Davis Langdon to offer carbon reduction service

Consultant to introduce carbon audits and advise on how to reduce emissions

Consultant Davis Langdon is set to launch a carbon index service next month, offering clients a detailed environmental audit of their buildings.

The service, thought to be the first of its kind, will assess each building’s environmental impact and provide it with a carbon index number. Davis Langdon will then advise clients on how to lower that number.

It will use the index to measure new builds, refurbishments and fit-outs.

The firm has worked with a number of organisations, including Friends of the Earth and the University of East Anglia, to devise a scale against which to measure energy performance.

The service was developed in response to a growing demand for advice from clients on how to reduce their carbon footprints. Rob Smith, senior partner, said: “Clients were keen and we’ve already been approached.”

He said the index “focused on everything”, including the manufacture of materials, their transportation, and how the building will perform in use.

Smith added: “If we can help clients keep carbon neutral for tenants then their buildings will be the most attractive.

“This is a business associated with creating iconic buildings but not necessarily ones that are environmentally friendly – we want to marry the two things up.”

Davis Langdon has also revealed plans to become a carbon neutral business itself, and hopes for an “entire regime change” within a year. Smith said that as the company was focusing on carbon emissions it made sense to apply the approach to its own premises.

Smith said: “We’ll be doing the usual things like shutting down PCs, turning off lights and recycling. And then looking at things like modes of transport.”

RIBA Enterprises and consultant Davis Langdon Schumann Smith (DLSS) have announced a collaborative venture to push the National Building Specification (NBS) into international markets and improve it in the UK.